The great rug-pull in the sky by Andy Wood

Andy Wood guides you through the maze of IHT, estate planning and cryptoassets

As I write this, crypto is in the beginning/middle/end [delete with hindsight] pump. Bitcoin is back nudging the $45k mark.

We are all going to make it.

Except, ultimately, none of us will. We all shuffle off (sorry if this is news to you).

As such, whether you’ve spent your life working in a 9-5 job, building a family empire, or trading memecoins like a degen, you will need to think about your estate planning position.

A long time REKT: how does crypto fit into the picture?

Now, one of the things that introduced a tax nerd like myself to crypto was not the dream of digital streets paved with digital gold, but the intellectual aspect. It was a brand new asset. How does it scrub up for legal purposes? Only then can we properly think about the tax.

For the classically trained lawyer, personal property can only be one of two things:

  • A chose in possession – something that can be ‘possesses’ or a ‘thing’; or
  • A chose in action – this is broadly a right that can be enforced against someone.

Clearly, crypto is not a tangible assets. It cannot be physically possessed (go on, try to hold some Dogecoin). So this does not fit neatly in this category.

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